Earlier this week, Syracuse basketball coaches received a commitment from transfer forward Amarri Monroe, who played extremely well over the past three seasons for Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference ("MAAC") member Quinnipiac.
The question on many Orange fans' minds is: Will Monroe be eligible to play for the 'Cuse in the upcoming 2026-27 season, the first with alum Gerry McNamara serving as the team's head coach?
Nothing is a given, but Inside the Loud House spoke with several legal experts this week, and the consensus seems to be that Monroe should be eligible in 2026-27. "Should," being the operative word.
The 6-foot-7, 230-pound Monroe has already competed for four seasons in college after starting his collegiate career at Wofford. The NCAA's new age-based eligibility model, approved in late June, does not allow athletes in the class of 2022, who have already played four seasons in college, to have a fifth season of eligibility.
Naturally, those new roles have sparked lawsuits at the federal and state levels. Last Friday, a federal judge in Colorado issued an injunction against the NCAA, enabling players in the 2022 class to have a fifth year of eligibility.
U.S. District Court of Colorado Judge Charlotte Sweeney also issued a clarification two days later, on Sunday. Some key elements here are that athletes granted a fifth year of eligibility can't override current transfer rules and roster limits, among other things, stemming from last summer's House antitrust settlement.
Additionally, those who seek a fifth year of eligibility must have entered their names into the transfer portal during the April window (for Division I men's basketball) if they want to switch schools, which Monroe did.
The NCAA is appealing the injunction from the Colorado case, while lawsuits at the state level also play out. In short, this whole thing is a mess. "It does change with every passing day," said Ryan Mulvaney, a shareholder in the Elmwood Park, N.J., office of law firm Stevens & Lee.
Various scenarios could play out, legal experts told Inside the Loud House. The NCAA could lose its appeal, and athletes in the 2022 class will be good to go to play in 2026-27.
It's less likely that the injunction will be overturned, but it's possible. It's also conceivable that this could drag on for a while, with athletes such as Monroe potentially getting to play for part of the 2026-27 campaign, but then the injunction may not hold for the entire season, some experts believe.
It's also possible - albeit unlikely - that a ruling could come out after the 2026-27 season concludes, and if such a ruling is in favor of the NCAA's position, the NCAA could try to seek some sort of restitution from member schools.
Whatever ultimately transpires, time is of the essence. It's already August, and college basketball programs have been engaged in summer workouts, with preseason practices not too far off in the distance.
"This could have been easily resolved before the implementation" of the new 5-for-5 eligibility model, Mulvaney said, adding that the NCAA should have just granted athletes in the 2022 class another year of eligibility if they wanted it, and not everyone would have. "That would have been an easy solution," he said.
Legal experts dish on the likelihood that transfer forward Amarri Monroe will be eligible to play for Syracuse basketball this coming season.
Several attorneys told Inside the Loud House that they believe Monroe will be eligible to suit up for the Orange in 2026-27. "If he was in the portal in April, he should be fine. He should be eligible," Mulvaney said.
However, Mulvaney and other attorneys cautioned that nothing is a certainty with these complex issues, and Monroe, if he's concerned about his eligibility, may want to consider filing a lawsuit of his own.
Darren Heitner, the founder of the Heitner Legal PLLC law firm in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., is currently representing many clients in lawsuits that have been filed at the state level. He's one of several attorneys who told Inside the Loud House that the injunction issued by the federal court in Colorado may not hold for the entirety of 2026-27, meaning that players such as Monroe could end up competing for their respective schools for a number of games and then be ruled ineligible.
"The federal court in Colorado granted class-wide relief giving those athletes a fifth season, but the NCAA has already appealed to the Tenth Circuit and is seeking a stay. The order does not force schools to open the transfer portal for non-plaintiffs or override other eligibility/transfer rules," Heitner said. "I would not count on that particular injunction holding for the full season. Athletes who want certainty are better off as named plaintiffs in individual state-court actions, several of which have already produced favorable injunctions."
Elliot Abrams, a partner at the law firm of Cheshire Parker Schneider & Abrams PLLC in Raleigh, N.C., issued the following statement to Inside the Loud House: "Our belief is that the Court meant what it said when it ordered that the NCAA may not bar Class Members from competing in a fifth season of collegiate athletics 'under any NCAA Bylaw.' So we believe that high school class of 2022 players are free to transfer in order to compete in a fifth season. We have seen the NCAA’s position on this issue, and we believe it violates the Court’s order. So we asked the judge to enforce its injunction. We hope that this issue will be resolved very soon."
Amanda Christovich, a reporter with Front Office Sports, echoed the sentiments of the legal experts whom I talked to during a radio interview this past Wednesday. "There's probably a very good chance that (Monroe) is eligible so long as he's followed all these other rules, which it sounds like he has," Christovich said. "Yes, he was already in the transfer portal, so he can transfer. ... As long as Syracuse had an open roster spot, he's eligible. So unless this court ruling gets overturned, he should be just fine. I think it's going to be hard to overturn this court ruling. Not impossible, but unlikely."
Buckle up, friends. This could be an interesting ride over the next few weeks - and possibly beyond.
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